DRUGMAKERS PUSHING NEXT GEN OPIOIDS
Pilloried for their role in the epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse, drugmakers are aggressively pushing their remedy to the problem: a new generation of harder-to-manipulate opioids that have racked up billions in sales, even though there’s little proof they reduce rates of overdoses or deaths.
More than prescriptions are at stake. Critics worry the drugmakers’ nationwide lobbying campaign is distracting from more productive solutions and delaying crucial efforts to steer physicians away from prescription opioids — addictive pain medications involved in the deaths of more than 165,000 Americans since 2000.
Border cities worry that ending NAFTA would hurt economies. Donald
Trump’s only visit to the U.S.-Mexico border while running for president was a stop in Laredo, Texas, that lasted less than three hours.
On some days, that’s not long enough for 18wheelers hauling foreignmade dishwashers and car batteries to lurch through the gridlocked crossing.
Trump’s campaign promise to tear apart the North American Free Trade Agreement helped win over Rust Belt voters who felt left behind by globalization. But the idea is unnerving to many people in border cities such as Laredo and El Paso or Nogales in Arizona, which have boomed under the 1994 treaty.
About 14,000 tractortrailers cross the border daily in Laredo, the nation’s busiest inland port. Local officials say roughly one in every three jobs benefits from international trade.
Yellen signals caution about Trump’s economic stimulus plan. President-elect
Donald Trump has pledged deep tax cuts and increased infrastructure spending to restore lost jobs, accelerate the economy and bring prosperity to more Americans.
Janet Yellen has her doubts.
After a presidential campaign full of blunt words and sweeping promises, the Federal Reserve chairwoman sought Wednesday to make a nuanced point: The moment for a deficit-fueled stimulus to improve job creation has probably passed.
With unemployment at a low 4.6 percent and hiring consistently solid, Yellen said she thought employers no longer needed large tax cuts and heavy infrastructure spending to create jobs.
Obama administration files trade challenge against China. Amid
new tensions with China, the Obama administration on Thursday launched its 15th challenge against Beijing at the Word Trade Organization, escalating a longsimmering debate over practices that U.S. officials say limit American farmers’ ability to export rice, wheat and corn to the Asian powerhouse.
The administration says it is trying to hold China to its commitment to allow set quantities of grain and corn to enter the country subject to a lower tariff rate.
China agreed to the terms when it joined the WTO, the administration said in a statement announcing new the complaint.